It was 2015, and we were on our way to Israel for our oldest daughter’s bat mitzvah. For her celebration, she had chosen to read from the Torah with Women of the Wall at their Rosh Hodesh gathering at the Kotel. With family and friends from across Israel and visiting from the States, we stood wrapped together, feeling such pride as she chanted from a tiny scroll the women had managed to smuggle in for their special service (see video). The joyful lifting of voices drowned out the screaming and whistleblowing that surrounded us that morning, allowing her to joyfully claim her voice in this holy community of women whose greatest passion is simply to practice their Judaism as free Jews in the way they best see fit, in relationship with God and the Jewish people, at the holiest of sites for our Jewish people.

It was such a powerful parenting moment to joyfully celebrate on one hand, and on the other, to watch our son, her brother, and her grandfathers have to sit on the sidelines without access to this very special moment. We were together in our pride, and yet the physical distance between us felt vast.

Four years later, we were back in Israel for our son’s bar mitzvah. This time at Ezrat Yisrael, a small, modest slice of access to the ancient walls that once surrounded the Temple, the egalitarian section off a side entrance. Again, family and friends gathered with us for this very........

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